PHOTO 1: Miguna Miguna in Germany (Credit: Miguna Miguna)
By Joab Apollo
Canadian based Kenyan lawyer and author Miguna Miguna has once again been denied entry into Kenya.
Miguna Miguna, a political thorn in the flesh for President Uhuru Kenyatta and his newfound ally Raila Odinga, a former Kenyan Prime Minister and leader of opposition party, ODM, was deported back to Canada for swearing in Odinga as the “People’s President” following the chaotic 2017 election in which Kenyatta was declared the winner.
“Berlin Brandenburg International Airport. Being refused boarding on flight AF836 Air France due to Red Alerts received from Despot Uhuru Kenyatta@StateHouse Kenya this morning. They fear me because they are extremely weak and unpopular.” He stated on his social media pages.
Letter by Air France to Miguna Miguna (Credit: Miguna Miguna)
“I will never surrender no matter how fearful, desperate, brutal and childish you become. I will keep speaking the truth forever.” He added
The Kenyan state maintains that Miguna Miguna, born and bred in Kenya, is a Canadian and must apply again to be granted Kenyan citizenship, but political observers believe this is a classic case of political witch hunt. They point out that Kenyan constitution allows dual citizenship.
Miguna Miguna sought asylum to Canada in the 1990s while a student at the University of Nairobi following brutality that was being meted out on political dissidents by then Kenya Africa National Union (KANU) regime.
He came back to Kenya following the defeat by KANU in 2002 rising politically to serve as Adviser to Prime Minister in 2008.
South African Government has said that it withdraws its support for the Miss South Africa pageant after unsuccessful consultations on persuading the pageant to reconsider its decision to partake in the Miss Universe event scheduled to be held in Israel.
In a statement on Sunday, the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, said while he appreciates the likely impact on the individual interest of the current Miss South Africa, he strongly believes that the reasons that require her withdrawal from Miss Universe far outweigh individual interests.
“If anything, by withdrawing, Miss South Africa’s reputation and overall standing will be far more advanced in South Africa and internationally in comparison to a once-off event that can prove disastrous to her future and public standing as a young, black woman,” the Minister said.
Government withdrew its support after consultations with the Miss South Africa pageant organisers failed.
“What appeared like engaging, constructive and progressive discussions during initial consultations was later met with an unpleasant demeanour that is intransigent and lacking appreciation of the potential negative impact of such a decision on the reputation and future of a young black woman.
“The atrocities committed by Israel against Palestinians are well documented and government, as the legitimate representative of the people of South Africa, cannot in good conscience associate itself with such,” the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture said.
Mthethwa said government’s first preference was to try to find common ground with the pageant organisers, and to issue a joint media statement.
“This has regrettably been unsuccessful, hence the decision now to publicly distance government and the people of South Africa from Miss SA pageant organisers’ stance on this matter.
“But even so, we still hope some common sense will prevail in the interest of the reigning queen, Lalela Mswane, and we remain open for discussions in that regard,” the Minister said. –SAnews.gov.za
After 2 straight weeks of negotiations and meetings on climate change, the COP26 came to an end with a final agreement known as the Glasgow Climate Pact, signed by 197 countries, among them big emitters like China and India, as well as small emitter countries like Lesotho.
The pact, though weaker than many had hoped for, has some successes, among them the global pledge to reduce methane emissions, and resolution of the carbon market deadlock. Yet, civil society organisations have termed the COP26 as a missed opportunity to enhance global climate action.
Below is a piece written by Amitabh Sinha of The Indian Express that provides overview of Conference of Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the outcome of COP26.
The Context
The Glasgow meeting was the 26th session of the Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP26. These meetings are held every year to construct a global response to climate change. Each of these meetings produce a set of decisions which are given different names. In the current case, this has been called the Glasgow Climate Pact.
Earlier, these meetings have also delivered two treaty-like international agreements, the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and the Paris Agreement in 2015, which form the global architecture for actions to be taken to tackle climate change. While the Kyoto Protocol expired last year, the Paris Agreement is now the active instrument to fight climate change.
The main task for COP26 was to finalise the rules and procedures for implementation of the Paris Agreement. Most of these rules had been finalized by 2018, but a few provisions, like the one relating to creation of new carbon markets, had remained unresolved. However, due to clear evidence of worsening of the climate crisis in the six years since the Paris Agreement was finalized, host country United Kingdom was keen to ensure that Glasgow, instead of becoming merely a “procedural” COP, was a turning point in enhancing climate actions. The effort was to push for an agreement that could put the world on a 1.5 degree Celsius pathway, instead of the 2 degree Celsius trajectory which is the main objective of the Paris Agreement.
Hence, more than 100 heads of states and governments were invited to attend the meeting and lend their political weight behind the process. So many leaders have assembled on only two earlier occasions, at the climate meetings in Copenhagen in 2009 and Paris in 2015. On both those occasions, the COPs were aiming to deliver a major agreement. Copenhagen had failed in that, but Paris had succeeded.
Glasgow did benefit from the presence as many of them also announced new and enhanced climate actions. However, the final agreement was a mixed bag, as most such pacts invariably are.
What was achieved
Mitigation: The Glasgow agreement has emphasised that stronger action in the current decade was most critical to achieving the 1.5-degree target. Accordingly, it has:
Asked countries to strengthen their 2030 climate action plans, or NDCs (nationally-determined contributions), by next year
Established a work programme to urgently scale-up mitigation ambition and implementation
Decided to convene an annual meeting of ministers to raise ambition of 2030 climate actions
Called for an annual synthesis report on what countries were doing
Requested the UN Secretary General to convene a meeting of world leaders in 2023 to scale-up ambition of climate action
Asked countries to make efforts to reduce usage of coal as a source of fuel, and abolish “inefficient” subsidies on fossil fuels
Has called for a phase-down of coal, and phase-out of fossil fuels. This is the first time that coal has been explicitly mentioned in any COP decision. It also led to big fracas at the end, with a group of countries led by India and China forcing an amendment to the word “phase-out” in relation to coal changed to “phase-down”. The initial language on this provision was much more direct. It called on all parties to accelerate phase-out of coal and fossil fuel subsidies. It was watered down in subsequent drafts to read phase-out of “unabated” coal power and “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies. But even this was not liking to the developing countries who then got it changed to “phase down unabated coal power and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies while providing targeted support to the poorest and the most vulnerable in line with national circumstances…”. Despite the dilution, the inclusion of language on reduction of coal power is being seen as a significant movement forward.
Adaptation: Most of the countries, especially the smaller and poorer ones, and the small island states, consider adaptation to be the most important component of climate action. These countries, due to their lower capacities, are already facing the worst impacts of climate change, and require immediate money, technology and capacity building for their adaptation activities. As such, the Glasgow Climate Pact has:
Asked the developed countries to at least double the money being provided for adaptation by 2025 from the 2019 levels. In 2019, about $15 billion was made available for adaptation that was less than 20 per cent of the total climate finance flows. Developing countries have been demanding that at least half of all climate finance should be directed towards adaptation efforts.
Created a two-year work programme to define a global goal on adaptation. The Paris Agreement has a global goal on mitigation — reduce greenhouse gas emissions deep enough to keep the temperature rise within 2 degree Celsius of pre-industrial times. A similar global goal on adaptation has been missing, primarily because of the difficulty in defining such a target. Unlike mitigation efforts that bring global benefits, the benefits from adaptation are local or regional. There are no uniform global criteria against which adaptation targets can be set and measured. However, this has been a long-pending demand of developing countries and the Paris Agreement also asks for defining such a goal.
Finance: Every climate action has financial implications. It is now estimated that trillions of dollars are required every year to fund all the actions necessary to achieve the climate targets. But, money has been in short supply. Developed countries are under an obligation, due to their historical responsibility in emitting greenhouse gases, to provide finance and technology to the developing nations to help them deal with climate change. In 2009, developed countries had promised to mobilise at least $100 billion every year from 2020. This promise was reaffirmed during the Paris Agreement, which also asked the developed countries to scale up this amount from 2025. The 2020 deadline has long passed but the $100 billion promise has not been fulfilled. The developed nations have now said that they will arrange this amount by 2023.
What does the Glasgow Agreement say?
A deal aimed at staving off dangerous climate change has been struck at the COP26 summit in Glasgow. The pact has:
Expressed “deep regrets” over the failure of the developed countries to deliver on their $100 billion promise. It has asked them to arrange this money urgently and in every year till 2025
Initiated discussions on setting the new target for climate finance, beyond $100 billion for the post-2025 period
Asked the developed countries to provide transparent information about the money they plan to provide
Loss and Damage: The frequency of climate disasters has been rising rapidly, and many of these cause largescale devastation. The worst affected are the poor and small countries, and the island states. There is no institutional mechanism to compensate these nations for the losses, or provide them help in the form of relief and rehabilitation. The loss and damage provision in the Paris Agreement seeks to address that.
Introduced eight years ago in Warsaw, the provision hasn’t received much attention at the COPs, mainly because it was seen as an effort requiring huge sums of money. However, the affected countries have been demanding some meaningful action on this front. Thanks to a push from many nations, substantive discussions on loss and damage could take place in Glasgow. One of the earlier drafts included a provision for setting up of a facility to coordinate loss and damage activities. However, the final agreement, which has acknowledged the problem and dealt with the subject at substantial length, has only established a “dialogue” to discuss arrangements for funding of such activities. This is being seen as a major let-down.
Carbon Markets: Carbon markets facilitate the trading of emission reductions. Such a market allows countries, or industries, to earn carbon credits for the emission reductions they make in excess of their targets. These carbon credits can be traded to the highest bidder in exchange of money. The buyers of carbon credits can show the emission reductions as their own and use them to meet their reduction targets. Carbon markets are considered a very important and effective instrument to reduce overall emissions.
A carbon market existed under Kyoto Protocol but is no longer there because the Protocol itself expired last year. A new market under Paris Agreement is yet to become functional. Developing countries like India, China or Brazil have large amounts of carbon credits left over because of the lack of demand as many countries abandoned their emission reduction targets. The developing countries wanted their unused carbon credits to be transitioned to the new market, something that the developed nations had been opposing on the grounds that the quality of these credits — the question whether these credits represent actual emission reductions — was a suspect. A deadlock over this had been holding up the finalisation of the rules and procedures of the Paris Agreement.
The Glasgow Pact has offered some reprieve to the developing nations. It has allowed these carbon credits to be used in meeting countries’ first NDC targets. These cannot be used for meeting targets in subsequent NDCs. That means, if a developed country wants to buy these credits to meet its own emission reduction targets, it can do so till 2025. Most countries have presented climate targets for 2025 in their first NDCs.
The resolution of the deadlock over carbon markets represents one of the major successes of COP26.
Parallel Processes
A lot of substantial action in Glasgow happened in parallel processes that were not a part of the official COP discussions. The announcements made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi about increased climate action from India fall in this category. These do not form part of the final agreed outcome, but Glasgow can certainly claim credit for facilitating these actions.
India announced a Panchamitra (a mixture of five elements) of climate actions. It raised the targets for two of its existing climate targets, announced two new ones, and also promised to turn net-zero by the year 2070. India’s new commitments created the maximum buzz on the first two days of the Glasgow meeting.
Several other countries also announced enhanced climate actions. Brazil, for example, said it would advance its net-zero target year from 2060 to 2050. China promised to come out with a detailed roadmap for its commitment to let emissions peak in 2030, and also for its 2060 net-zero target. Israel announced a net zero target for 2050.
Over 100 countries pledged to reduce methane emissions by at least 30 per cent from present levels by 2030. Methane is a dangerous greenhouse gas, with a global warming potential nearly 80 times that of carbon dioxide over a 20-year time period. This pledge, if achieved, is estimated to avoid about 0.2 degree Celsius temperature rise by the middle of the century. The methane pledge is being seen as one of the biggest successes at COP26.
Another set of over 100 countries promised to arrest and reverse deforestation by 2030.
Over 30 countries signed on to a declaration promising to work towards a transition to 100 per cent zero-emission cars by the year 2040, at least in the leading car markets of the world.
Rivers State governor, Nyeson Wike has reaffirmed that his administration will not relent in its support for the Church to promote and expand the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The governor said his support for the Church is an altruistic service, rendered in appreciation of God’s benevolence towards his administration and the good people of Rivers State.
Governor Wike, stated this at the special fundraising service for the purchase of landed property by the Church of Christ in Nations(COCIN), Port Harcourt on Sunday.
Represented by the Chief of Staff, Government House, Chief Emeka Woke, the governor reiterated that his administration’s support for the Church of Christ has never been politically motivated, rather it is in appreciation of God’s faithfulness to the State.
“When as a government, we support the work of God, people think that we do that for political reasons. They think maybe we want to get the support of the congregation of that particular ministry, no. We do that as Christians, because we realise the fact that except the God build the city those who labour will labour in vain; and except God watches over the city, the watchmen will only keep awake for nothing.
“Given the circumstance that brought our administration on board, for those of you who live and do business in Rivers State, you know that it was not easy for us to come in. The APC government was already here, and then we came in from Abuja as minister to take over administration of Rivers State as governor.
“For those of you who live and do business here, will also know that the last election in 2019 was also not easy. It was one of the toughest election in the entire Nigeria. It was election between the military and the people of Rivers state.
“And so we know that it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but it is only God Almighty who shows mercy. And so we will not forget to thank God, we will not disassociate ourselves from anything that has to do with the work of God and progress of God.”
Governor Wike, who donated Thirty Million Naira (N30M) to support the Church of Christ in Nations, assured that whenever his administration is called upon to contribute to the propagation and evangelism of the gospel, it will not relent to support the Church.
He implored Christians to continue to pray for the success of his administration and the State. According to him, the prayer of Christians has been a major source of strength of his administration since its inception in 2015.
“Even in governance, we won’t have been able to achieve anything without God. Look at the economy of the country today, but everyday, we are either commissioning or flagging off projects. People ask how do you do this? His Excellency will always say, this State is a Christian State, and this State is running a Jesus economy. In the Jesus economy, you give a little to the work of God and God multiples that little you have given in a million fold. It is with that we are able to execute our projects.”
The governor thanked God for the successes recorded by the Church of Christ in Nations since its inception. He urged the Church not to relent in its serious commitment to expansion and propagation of the gospel.
The pastor, Rev Sunday Okhifoh said the special fundraising service was organised to solicit support to purchase a landed property which will be used for the propagation of the gospel.
He explained that the first missionaries that came to Africa and Nigeria comprised of pastors, engineers, doctors who not only preached the gospel, but also established schools, hospital and other facilities to take care of their immediate community.
“The gospel is holistic, in the sense that it touches not only the spirit of man, but even physical life of man. It also touches the society to make it a prosperous society, a place where peace, where wellbeing, where progress, where prosperity is affordable and attainable to all. And we will agree that where the Christian message has been accepted and the Christian life is given a free hand to flourish, you will see development and prosperity always come to those places. This has been the work of the Church.”
Rev. Okhifoh said the Church of Christ in Nations intends to build a non-commercial clinic and school in the landed property in Port Harcourt.
A tropical species expert shows a scorpion during a press conference in Paris, France, October 1, 2015. (Credit: i24News)
A scorpion swarm of biblical proportions occurred Saturday in southern Egypt, killing three and injuring 453 people after heavy storms brought the predatory arachnids out of their nests and into homes, Egyptian media reported.
The stinging attacks happened in the mountainous areas of Aswan, a city on the Nile River, as the thundershowers washed away scorpions and snakes, causing them to seek shelter in homes, particularly at higher elevations.
A health official told Al-Ahram news agency that extra doses of anti-venom were provided to local medical centers and that doctors who had been administering Covid-19 vaccines were instead assisting in treating scorpion stings.
Local residents were told to avoid mountainous areas during the swarm.
The Egyptian fat-tailed scorpion is considered one of the deadliest scorpions in the world, usually preying on insects or spiders.
According to Hadassah University Medical Center, there are 1,000 known types of scorpions in the world, with 21 kinds in Israel, of which five carry poisonous venom, including fat-tail scorpions.
For treating a sting, Hadassah advises “calming the victim, immobilizing the affected limb, and quick transport to a hospital. It is also advisable to put some ice on the sting, which will alleviate the pain, and slow the progress of the venom.”
Scorpius “tips the scale of electronic warfare, providing world-first breakthrough capabilities for electronic defense and disrupting enemy systems.”
By TPS
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) unveiled the Scorpius family of (EW) systems, the first electronic warfare system in the world capable of simultaneously targeting and disrupting multiple threats across frequencies and in different directions.
Scorpius is based on the Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) technology, which provides a breakthrough in EW performance, enabling a new generation of electronic warfare capabilities.
With AESA’s multi-beam capability, Scorpius can simultaneously scan the surrounding region for targets and deploy narrowly focused beams to interfere with multiple threats across the electromagnetic spectrum.
The system is able to target a range of threats, including UAVs, ships, missiles, communication links, low probability of interception (LPOI) radars, and more.
Scorpius disrupts the operation of their electromagnetic systems, including radar and electronic sensors, navigation, and data communications.
IAI says that Scorpius’ technological breakthrough is characterized by unprecedented receiver sensitivity and transmission power (ERP), far exceeding those of legacy EW systems. This allows Scorpius to detect multiple threats, of different kinds simultaneously, from dramatically increased distances, and to address each threat with a customized response.
Scorpius-G (ground) is a ground-based EW system designed to detect and disrupt ground- and airborne threats. Scorpius-N (naval) is dedicated to defending ships against advanced threats in the marine arena. Scorpius SP is a self-protection pod for combat aircraft.
Adi Dulberg, General Manager of the IAI’s Intelligence Division, explained Thursday that “the modern battlefield depends on the electromagnetic domain for sensing, communications, and navigation. Protecting the use of the electromagnetic domain for our forces, while denying its use by the enemy, have become mission-critical for success in combat and for ensuring the superiority of our forces in the field.”
Scorpius “tips the scale of electronic warfare, providing world-first breakthrough capabilities for electronic defense and disrupting enemy systems,” he stated.
Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike of Rivers State, south-south Nigeria
By Sunday Elijah
Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike of Rivers State, south-south Nigeria says all those who engaged in activities against his administration, to pull it down, have experienced utter disappointment.
The governor maintained that the recent crises that were stirred within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), part of it, was spearheaded by people who, in secret meetings, plotted to bring him down. He said no one of such persons have survived achieving their plots.
Governor Wike stated this on Sunday at the Special Thanksgiving Service to celebrate the appointment of Justice Simeon Chibuzor Amadi, as the Chief Judge of Rivers State, held at St. Philip’s Anglican Church, Elibrada Parish, in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State.
He stated that nobody can tamper with who God has ordained, because but for God, he would not have become the governor of the State.
“Recently, you heard there was some crises in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Everybody who was involved, that plotted everything for my downfall, all are out. Everyone, that slept, that went to a meeting, planning how they’re going to bring me down, not one survived.”
The governor also alluded that similar plot was contrived when the former Chief Judge of the State, Justice Adama Iyayi-Lamikanra was to be appointed, but they also failed no matter how hard they tried.
He wondered why somebody would render services for the interest of Rivers State and when it is time for appointment, people started to conspire and even tried plotting against his government.
“When your predecessor, (Justice Iyayi-Lamikanra) was appointed, you have said here that people came to you to say she’s not from Rivers State. Such people are enemies of the State. That is why this country cannot move forward.
“Somebody who has put his or her life serving the State all through her career, making sure that the State moves forward, and at the time of benefits, you now say the person is not from your State. But all the services rendered was for the interest of your State.
When your predecessor was appointed, people started to conspire, people started to plot against my government. Your colleagues, some of them started conspiring. I said, well, what will be will be. I do know that it is God that made me to become governor. Nobody will survive to plot the downfall of my government. Nobody will survive it.”
The governor explained that when Justice Iche Ndu retired as the Chief Judge of the State, the judiciary was plunged into crisis, resulting in the shutting down of the court for some years. According to him, even when the State did not have a substantive Chief Judge, billions of Naira were signed off steadily in the State judiciary.
According to him, reports of the committee that was set up by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) indicted some principal judicial staff, some of who were eventually promised to be shielded by somebody who had hoped to become a Chief Judge.
“And so, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has to set up a committee to investigate it because there was no Chief Judge, but look at the record, billions are being spent. Who is responsible of this expenditure?
“You can’t believe it, some registrars were using that opportunity to make money. You can’t believe the kind of houses people at that level could will build within that period, and they were found guilty.
“Someone who believes that he or she will be the next Chief Judge had to interfere with that investigation, and security picked it up. And simply because some of them are from the same community and she said, when I become Chief Judge, I will set aside that indictment by the Judicial Service Commission, security picked it up. That was how you (Justice Amadi) became the Chief Judge.”
Speaking further, Governor Wike acknowledged the role played by the former governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili, who appointed Justice Amadi to be a Judge of the State High Court, and also ensured that Ikwerre produced Governor of Rivers State.
Governor Wike said it is not out of place for the Ikwerres to stand always with the Odilis, because of his love for them and consider what affects them to affect the Ikwerres too, since one good turn deserves another.
Governor Wike enjoined the Chief Judge to be diligent in his duties, assertive in achieving results, utilise money meant for the judiciary judiciously and desist being vindictive.
In his speech, Justice Simeon Chibuzor Amadi acknowledged that only God deserves all the thanks for his benevolence over his life, and his appointment as Chief Judge.
He noted that God uses men to accomplish His will and Governor Wike was God’s instrument to make that appointment possible.
In his sermon at the service, Archbishop of the Province of Niger Delta and Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Ikwerre, Most Rev. Blessing Enyindah said, it is only God who can raise any person from obscurity to prominence.
He stressed that God expects those who have so enjoyed His grace and mercies in areas of good health, business successes and promotion to gladly acknowledge it by returning to thank him.
Archbishop Enyindah enjoined Justice Amadi, who God has raised among other judges to become the Chief Judge of Rivers State, to not only thank God in the church, as he has returned to do, but be determined to continually discharge his duties conscientiously and give justice to the people.
An interfaith Sensitisation Programme for religious leaders on Tolerance and peaceful coexistence among communities in Kachia/Kagarko Federal Constituency of Kaduna State has been held.
The programme which was organised by Member Representing the Constituency, Gabriel Saleh Zock in collaboration with the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) was aimed at strengthening peace and tolerance amongst Communities in the Constituency.
Though there has been relative peace in the constituency, the programme was more or less a proactive measure to ensure and further strengthen existing peace and harmonious understanding amongst the constituents.
Speaking at the event, Zock ,who expressed delight at the relative peace in Kachia/Kagarko Constituency within the year under review, said since elected he has provided projects that will further help to engender development and sustain peaceful coexistence .
According to him , most often time failure to provide those basic amenities create unnecessary window for violence and breach of Public peace.
Hon Zock further explained, ” It is time to give back to the Community that gave me the opportunity to represent them in the House of Representatives ,hence the decision to provide Electricity, portable water supply and build school structures for various Communities across the 14 wards within the Constituency.
Worried about high unemployment rate ,I decided to create an Empowerment scheme in 2019 to assist women and youths with grants for small scale businesses.
In the area of Agriculture as the mainstay of our people, I used personal funds to procure fertilizer for farmers during the rainy season to ensure they have good harvest.
In a brief remarks, former Speaker of Kaduna State House of Assembly, Nuhu Goroh Shaddalafiya commended Hon Zock for taking the bold step to organise the interfaith stakeholders meeting at critical period, especially with emerging threats amongst Community members over insecurity.
According to Shaddalafiya , the meeting geared towards strengthening peaceful coexistence amongst members of the communities will surely help to ensure Sustainable peace in Kachia/Kagarko areas .
While acknowledging the various laudable constituency projects by Hon Zock ,the Former Deputy Speaker stressed, “that without peace and security within the Constituency, the projects become useless”
He however urged the lawmaker to remain fair to all constituency saying, ” Once a leader is Elected on any Political party platform, he automatically becomes a leader of all regardless of party or religious affiliations
He also urged parents to deliberately avoid statements capable of creating hatred between or amongst children and members of Communities .
He suggested that a forum for interfaith meetings be established as a platform to discuss issues that strengthens peace within the federal constituency .
In his speech, the Director General ,Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, ICPR Dr. Bakut Tsuwa represented by Mr Gabriel Jiya charged religious leaders on the need to constantly preach messages of peace and tolerance.
He further said religious leaders are charged with responsiblity of peace building, advocacy and empowerment .
The DG who insisted on religious leaders to come together to unite adherents against conflict and violence, maintained that Conflict is counter productive, creates distress, hatred and disharmony and lead to rise in criminality.”
“We are Proud to be associated with Hon Zock, One of the most important thing is to have an environment for peaceful coexistence.
“For peace to reign there must tolerance across religious, ethnic and Political backgrounds.It is God’s desire for people with different faiths to coexist.
“Thus, there must be deliberate attempt to avoid violent conflicts and desist from negative narratives that can ignite crisis and conflicts”.He stated .
The District Head of Sabon-Sarki ,HRH Jacob James Dogo in his remark said the interfaith meeting for Religious ,Traditional and Community leaders is not only apt ,but timely.
He thanked the lawmaker for organising the stakeholders meeting to discuss issues that will bring about peaceful coexistence in Kachia/Kagarko .
